Social Media(tion) and the Reshaping of Public/Private Boundaries in Employment Relations

Abstract

Tensions surrounding social media in the employment relationship are increasingly evident in the media, public rhetoric, and courts and employment tribunals. Yet the underlying causes and dimensions of these tensions have remained largely unexplored. This article firstly reviews the available literature addressing social media and employment, outlining three primary sources of contestation: profiling, disparaging posts and blogs, and private use of social media during work time. In each area, the key dynamics and underlying concerns of the central actors involved are identified. The article then seeks to canvas explanations for these forms of contestation associated with social media at work. It is argued that the architecture of social media disrupts traditional relations in organisational life by driving employer and employee actions that (re)shape and (re)constitute the boundaries between public and private spheres. Although employers and employees are using the same social technologies, their respective concerns about and points of entry to these technologies, in contrast to traditional manifestations of conflict and resistance, are asymmetric. The article concludes with a representational summary of the relative legitimacy of concerns for organisational actors and outlines areas for future research

Measuring the extent and nature of use of Social Networking Sites in Medical Education (SNSME) by university students: Results of a multi-center study

“…Such information should alert policy-makers to advocate appropriate use of SNSs for education that can enrich learning climate without harming students’ behaviors and interpersonal relationships. An institutional code of conduct about academic integrity [40], adherence to core principles of medical professionalism [41] and implementing legal policies about use SNSs can potentially resolve some of the mentioned shortcomings [42]. …”

Social Media Use in Child Welfare Practice

“… What agency guidance do workers receive about social media?  Do workers experience strain related to use of social media at work, as described by McDonald and Thompson (2016)?…”

“…McDonald and Thompson (2016) cite three sources of strain related to social media use in the workplace: a) troublesome use of social media by employers to profile job candidates or employees, which threatens employees' rights to privacy and may lead the searcher to false assumptions; b) social media posts made by employees related to work, especially derogatory posts about the workplace; and c) private use of social media in the workplace, which may be seen as wasting time. These three issues are all potentially amplified in a child welfare setting: a) profiling extends to the profiling of clients by child welfare workers and vice versa; b) social media posts related to work may not only reflect poorly on an agency, but may also reveal confidential information about clients; and c) private use of social media on agency equipment may be difficult to delineate from agencysanctioned use.…”

The Online Unmanaged Organization: Control and Resistance in a Space with Blurred Boundaries

“…The underlying tensions regarding labor processes of this ''new contested terrain'' (Hurrell et al 2013) have hardly been studied (McDonald and Thompson 2016;Richards 2008Richards , 2010. The loosening of boundaries of unmanaged organization affects both employers and employees.…”

“…Most of the academic discussion on online organizational control has focused on what is considered normatively and legally appropriate (Cote 2007;Gely and Bierman 2006;Lucero et al 2013), and there is a lack of deep analysis of the underlying tensions that provide the basis for disputes (McDonald and Thompson 2016). Employees have been dismissed or punished by their employers because of online posts on social media and blogs, creating a new contested terrain (Hurrell et al 2013).…”